After obtaining a holding on the island of Cyprus (circa 1300), the Grand Master of the Order decided to find a new headquarters in the eastern Mediterranean. They chose Rhodes, an island off the southeastern coast of Turkey owned by the Byzantine Empire. After a four year siege, Rhodes fell to the sovereignty of the Hospitallers in 1310. They held it until 1522 when it was conquered by the Turks.

Today's fortress at Rhodes is a magnificent structure, well maintained by the people and government of Rhodes, a world heritage city.

The Old Town is bustling with shops and restaurants today.

The Street of Knights is the location of several inns dating back to the Middle Ages. It is the most important street of the Old Town, and it leads to the Grand Master's Palace.

The Inns (living quarters) of the Eight Langues

Walking the Street one can only get a feel for what Knight Life was like.

Hospitality of the sick was the rule of the Order, then and today.

In 1530, Emperor Charles V gave them the island of Malta, near Italy. The Hospitallers ruled Malta until 1798 when it was seized by Napoleon, then disbanded into many langues all over the world.

Ancient legends claim that the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes (above) was guarded by the Colossus of Rhodes, a giant statue that straddled the harbor's narrow entrance. Originally, Colossus stood over 2,000 years ago at the Islands of Rhodes. Colossus was built in 304 B.C. and it took twelve years to build it. The statue was 110 feet high and stood on the pedestal. Colossus was posed in a traditional Greek manner: nude, wearing a spiky crown, with his eyes shaded from the bright sun with his right hand while holding a cloak over his left hand. In the 7th century (A.D.) the Arabs conquered Rhodes and broke up Colossus, and sold it as scrap metal. It took 900 camels to take away the statue. It was a sad ending for what was a majestic work of art. Today, it is considered one of the 7 Wonders of the World.

The Colossus of Rhodes, inspired the French sculptor Auguste Bertholdi, the artist of the Statute of Liberty in New York (The Book of Knowledge, the Grolier Society, 1911).

The Order of St. John still thrives today in many countries. No longer a military order, it has returned to its original purpose of caring for the sick and injured.

LINDOS

Rhodes has been inhabited since the Stone Age. According to myth, the cult of Athena Lindia was pre-Hellenic. The history of the sanctuary begins in the Geometric period (9th c. BC). In the Archaoc period the ruler of Lindos, Kleoboulos, revived the cult and built a temple, probably on the site of an earlier one. After it was burnt down in 342 BC, the present temple was built with the propylaea and the monumental staircase. The Hellenistic stoa is later. In the 3rd c. BC the cult of Zeus Polieus was introduced, although Athena remained the principal deity of the sanctuary. In the Roman period the priest Aglochartos planted olive trees on the spot, and according to an inscription the Sanctuary of Psithyros was built close to the Temple of Athena (2nd c. AD).

After the division of the Roman State, at the beginning of the 4th century AD (314 AD), Rhodes came to the Eastern Empire. In 515 AD the city of Rhodes was destroyed by an earthquake and was rebuilt by the emperor Anastasios.

In the 9th century it suffered greatly in the hands of Seljuks of Haroun al Raschid who plundered the island barbarously (807 AD). In the 11th century there was something like a renaissance of its previous commercial activity and Rhodes forged trading relations with the west and with the Crusaders, which Rhodes furnished with ships and mercenaries.

When the Crusaders took over Constantinople in 1204, the leader Leon Gavalas, who originated from Constantinople, declared himself hereditary despot of Rhodes and ruled it until 1246 when the island was captured by the Benoese who where in power until 1261. Then the Byzantine emperors took back Constantinople from the crusaders. Thenceforth Rhodes belonged, officially, to the Byzantine State but was, in reality, in the hands of the Benoese admirals who in 1309 AD sold the island to the Knights of the Ioannites.

The Island of Rhodes has always been an important strategic stronghold and its position on the vital trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean has greatly influenced the course of its history. The reason for its early occupation is quite easy to understand, it has a perfect mild climate, fertile land and an almost inexhaustible supply of water from its underground streams and reservoirs. The ancient town of Lindos, on the east side of the Island, was the first to experience economic development and soon paralleled that of the Ionian cities of Asia Minor. With its natural harbour and rocky defences, Lindos soon developed into a major naval and mercantile centre between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. Its decline came in the early years of the 5th century BC, when it came into conflict with Persian Imperialism and their expansion policies in the southern Aegean.

PHERAKLOS

On top of a small hill (150 m high), overlooking Charaki, are ruins of the medieval castle, which was used by pirates before the Knights Hospitaller ousted them and rebuilt the fortress.

The huge, ruined citadel of Pheraklos is an imposing sight from afar: it was one of the best fortified of the fortresses of the Knights Of St. John. Before the Knights arrived from Cyprus, Rhodes has been taken over by Muslim pirates who used the Byzantine fortress as a stronghold. The Knights expelled the pirates, improved the fortifications and used Pheraklos later as a prison. In this fortress they were able to resist the forces of Suleyman and held out under siege for some time after Rhodes town fell.

Crusader. Rhodes. Juan Fernandez of Heredia, AD 1376 to 1396, Silver Gigliato. Juan Fernadez of Herdia was the Grand Master of the Order of the Knighs Hospitallers of St. John of Jersualem, at Rhodes from AD 1376 to 1396.